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Indian banks gung-ho about financial inclusion, but not agents
Financial inclusion is not yet a profitable proposition, but banks remain gung-ho about the initiative, predicting future dividends from the market reach that comes with improved access to finance.
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- South Asia
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Mobile banking key to financial inclusion in Bangladesh
Mobile banking is the perfect platform for Bangladesh to take financial services to the country's largely unbanked population in an efficient and low-cost manner, an analyst from Visa said.
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- South Asia
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Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe moves to end “mobile war” between telecommunications players
THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has directed mobile payment system operators that want to enter into exclusive arrangements with agents to seek permission as the central bank moves to end the “mobile war” between telecommunications players.
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Bank in Chile launches app that lets people transfer money using Facebook
The Chilean unit of Spanish bank BBVA is launching a service that lets people transfer money using Facebook. The service begins March 3 and the bank says it's the first of its kind in Latin America.
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What if America’s unbanked had mobile wallets?
Delivering financial services to the world's unbanked masses is not a topic that usually includes a developed economy like the United States. That's because Africa is the global leader in this area. Its mobile network operators are boosting their bottom lines and raising standards of living by offering mobile wallets to the unbanked -- making it possible to conduct a variety of transactions from person-to-person money transfers to bill payments and point-of-sale purchases.
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Weekly Roundup – 3/1/14: A digital heist, mobile money power-plays and controversy in Africa cap a turbulent week in finance
This week, a major Bitcoin exchange filed for bankruptcy, after almost half a billion dollars of the virtual currency went missing. Safaricom continued taking M-Pesa global, while new competition emerged on its home front. And the World Bank postponed a $90 million loan to Uganda in response to a controversial new law. We explore these issues in the Roundup.
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Beyond Opinion: Understanding Consumer Demand in Developing Countries: A March 7 USAID forum will showcase new techniques
Why do pro-poor technologies fail to achieve scale — even when they offer proven benefits?
Part of the problem is that we aren’t getting reliable information about what poor people actually want. And as a result, we make lots of assumptions. On March 7, USAID’s Office of Science and Technology will be showcasing some very innovative techniques for measuring consumer demand in low-income communities.- Categories
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- product design
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Quick Wins in Mobile Money: How simple usability tweaks can significantly increase mobile money usage
Mobile finance has great potential to serve the poor, but many existing services are not designed around their needs, behaviors and capabilities. New research from Grameen Foundation reveals simple usability fixes that mobile money providers could incorporate to help their products better meet the needs of the BoP, and reach scale and commercial viability.
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